Kevin Feige on Why Josh Brolin Makes a Good Thanos

Josh Brolin

"He could be Thanos without any effects," the Marvel Studios president says of the actor behind the cosmic threat to the company's heroes.

Kevin Feige has been talking about the choice of actor Josh Brolin to play Thanos, the cosmic villain glimpsed at the end of Avengers and set to plague the Marvel cinematic universe in upcoming movies, and what made him ideal for the role.

“We were looking at a wish list of ‘Wouldn’t it be great if’ names, and his name was on it,” the Marvel Studios president told Collider. “You look at his face and the performances he gives — he could be Thanos without any effects. He has that kind of face and that kind of gravitas to it.”

Brolin was reportedly an easy sell on the role. “We reached out to him and it was one of those things that does not happen all the time, but when it does it’s very nice, where he was totally intrigued,” Feige said. “We ran it by [Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn] who loved it, ran it by [Joss Whedon] who loved it because Thanos is in this universe because of Avengers. Then we shot him and recorded for it.”

The reference to “shot him” speaks to the fact that Brolin doesn’t just voice the CGI character. “We wanted somebody to be more than just the voice,” Feige said. “Josh did the performance as well.” You’ll get to see the fruits of his labors when Guardians of the Galaxy is released August 1.